To Be Young Again
by Bad Wolf and Timelords
Summary: After killing a Witch in New York, Sam and Cas are transformed by the Witch's daughter by accident. Now, Dean must team up with the Witch's daughter in order to get his brother and friend back to normal.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Cas!" Dean shouted as he dove out of the way of an oncoming spell, shooting another round of iron bullets at the cackling woman in the center of the dank and dirty basement but missing his target.

They had managed to find themselves a case in New York where there had been numerous strange occurrences, from weather, to bad luck, and even death. So when they had finally come to discover that what they were dealing with was a witch, they found where she was hiding and made a move to kill the troublesome bitch. That proved to be difficult though as she threw spells at them left, right and centre as well as the fact that they were almost out of spell Molotov's.

"Any time, Cas!" He shouted again, trying to shoot the stupid bitch.

"I am trying." Castiel replied, his deep deadpanned voice strained as he too jumped to avoid being hit with a spell.

There was a slight explosion that rocked the ground beneath them that threw them off their feet and back, making the old looking hag cackle in delight as she raised her glowing hands.

"Sam!" Dean yelled.

"Get down!" Sam's voice rang out in the room. Both Dean and Cas threw themselves for cover as Sam threw a spell Molotov at the witch from where he stood a few feet from the bottom of the stairs. Being the last one they had, the glass bottle successfully struck the woman in the chest and stunned her. Taking advantage of her paralysis, both Winchester brothers took aim and shot her; Sam's bullet going through her head while Dean's found its home in her chest. With a final croak and shudder, the witch fell to the ground. Keeping their guns trained on her lifeless body for a moment with a wary eye before relaxing.

"That was… tedious." Cas said, expressing what they were all thinking.

"Yeah." Dean huffed in annoyance, walking over to the body to look down at it.

"I should go up and see how that girl is." Sam said suddenly, tucking his gun away as he turned towards the stair.

Dean turned his head to study his little brother in confusion. "Girl?" He repeated. "What girl?"

"The witch had a girl locked up in a closet." Sam jerked a thumb up towards the floor above them. "Found her when we were scoping out the place."

"What do you think she wanted with her?" Dean put his gun away as well.

"I dunno." Sam shook his head. "The witch never held anyone captive before."

"_Mom?_" A female voice filled with fear and dread sounded above them.

"Except maybe a daughter…" Sam realized as all three of them looked up in surprise.

"Great. Another witch." Dean muttered to himself, pulling out his gun and readying it. Meanwhile, Sam and Castiel didn't make a move to prep a weapon to defend themselves.

"Mom?" The voice called out again followed by the banging of boots against the creaking wooden stairs into the rough and unfinished basement. Almost flying down the stairs was a pale young woman with shoulder length blonde hair in dirty, almost sooty once white tank top and dark skinny jeans. Coming to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, she looked past the three men in the room to where her mother's unmoving body lay. After a moment of heavy breathing, the woman's eyes began to well up as her full bottom lip began to tremble. "Mom?" She whispered in denial before heaving out a choked sob. "Mom!" Not noticing the single gun trained on her as she ran past Sam and Dean, she dropped onto the dirt floor beside the witch's body. Rolling her over, the girl gently swept the stray black hair out of the dead woman's face as a single tear fell when she saw the smoked chest and bullet holes.

"Hey!" Dean called as he, Sam and Cas moved to block the girl's path to the stair in case she tried to escape. "Who the hell are you?"

"Mom…" Was all the girl could mumble before slowly getting to her feet.

Looking at Dean in exasperation, Sam moved forward with his hands raised. "Look, I'm sorry we killed your mom, but she was killing a lot of innocent people." He explained.

Sniffing, the girl gave a merciless laugh with her back to the boys. "You bitch," She spat lowly. "I told you that you'd get in trouble for what you were doing, but you wouldn't listen. I told you so."

The three men looked at each other, unsure what to do next. When the girl turned slightly to look at them, they saw her expression waver between one of a small and lost child and one of defense. After she gave a shuddering breath, the palms of her hands started to glow a dark blue.

"Whoah! Hey!" Dean shouted in warning, bringing his gun up to point it at her.

"We won't hurt you!" Sam shouted in promise. Looking to his brother on his left though, he rolled his eyes and smacked Dean's gun so that it was pointing to the ground rather than the girl.

Studying them in confusion, the girl didn't seem to understand what they mean until a warming sensation on her hands caught her attention and made her look down. Twisting her hand so that she could look down at her palms, her eyes grew wide in fear when she saw the growing light and energy that was there.

"No!" She whispered quietly in protest before she shook her head. "No no no no no!" Each word was spoken louder as she rubbed hands together and on her pants as though in an effort to rub away the growing light and energy.

"Perhaps we should leave." Cas eyed the girl in concern as he moved closer to his friends.

"Yeah…" Dean said unwillingly before a scream made them all jump.

"Look out!" The girl shrieked as her arms were forced up and ahead of her by an unseen force, making her palms face the two Hunters and Angel. Dean immediately dove out of the way, but Sam and Cas were not as lucky was the energy flew from the girl's like a beam and hit the two of them, filling the room with smoke and a sort of dark light, blinding them all.

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_**A/N: More on the way, in the meantime leave me with your thoughts and ideas as to what may happen!**_

_**I also have another Supernatural fanfiction written that I'm still working on, called "The Essence of My Soul to Keep" if you'd like to check that one out. It is a teen Dean/OC story if you're interested.**_

_**I also have a SPN music video on youtube set to the song Hey Brother by Avicci if you'd like to see it. /watch?v=AFKicPRvcVQ**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After an antagonizing minute of hiding and wondering what had happened, Dean could finally see again as the light faded from the dust filled air. Peeking up from where he was crouched on the floor, he let his eyes adjust as he felt around blindly. "Sam? Cas?" He called out, hoping that were both okay after being faced with whatever that blast had been.

"Dean?" A high pitched voice called out to him, making Dean's blood run cold.

He hasn't heard that voice, well in this tone and pitch anyways, in years. Snapping his head up, Dean's eyes focused on the two small figures engulfed in oversized clothes.

"What happened?" Sam looked from Dean and down to his small body before looking to Castiel beside him and then back to his brother. "Dean!"

"Sammy!" Immediately the familiar feeling of protectiveness rushed through him mixed with the adrenaline as Dean scrambled to his feet and rushed over to drop to his knees in front of his little, and quite literally little, brother. Amongst the pile of clothes, standing covered only by their buttoned shirts hanging on their slim shoulders were two year old versions of Sam and Cas.

"What happened to us?" Sam asked.

"I think we've been turned into young children." Cas piped up, his usual deep grown up voice was now a smaller and higher pitch, sounding so young and innocent compared to his older and experienced true self.

"You okay, Sammy?" Dean put his hands on Sam's shoulders; their father's words rang out in his head as he looked over him for any damage. _Watch out for Sammy_.

"Uh huh." Came the childish response.

Minus the sweat, smoke and grime caking Sam's skin and clothes, Dean was satisfied to find nothing wrong, aside from the fact that Sam was now a child. "What about you, Cas?" He turned his head to look at the Angel who was now studying himself.

"I think so..." Cas said slowly looking down at his clothes blankly.

"Dean..." Dean turned back to Sam when he heard the familiar, tear filled and trembling voice. Seeing the tears well up in wide hazel eyes accompanied by a trembling lower lip, Dean wrapped his arms around Sam's little body and drew him into his chest. As he did so, there was a worry inside his stomach that he made a wrong move, but it was immediately quashed when Sam threw his arms around his brother's neck and started to cry.

Tightening his hold, Dean stroked his shaggy hair and kept hushing him. "Shhh, Sammy. It's okay. I gotcha."

_Watch out for Sammy. _

When their father's words rang out once again rang out in his mind, Dean's grip tightened even further before turning his head to glare at the girl lying on the dirt floor in a semi unconscious state. Letting go of Sam, he got up, grabbed his gun from where it lay on the floor before marching over to the struggling girl and wrapping a hand of the low collar of her shirt, dragged her to her feet and pressed the barrel of his gun underneath her chin, effectively waking her up and making her whimper in fear.

"No! Please!" She begged, tears leaking down the side of her face as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Change them back. _Now_." Dean growled.

"I can't!" The girl cried in protest.

Switching his grip, he moved his hand so that rather than hold her by her shirt, he held her by the throat instead. "There's a difference between can't and won't, change them back now!" He shouted in rage, his hand tightening around her throat.

"I can't! I don't know how! Please, I swear!" She choked out. "I can explain!"

Tightening his grip on her throat by a fraction, Dean glared at her through narrowed eyes before dropping her to the ground. There she coughed and spluttered as she gasped for breath at his feet. "Talk. _Now_." He spat.

Clutching at her red neck, the girl eyed him in fright. "My name is Carrie Lyle, I'm 28 and I'm a witch. My mother kept me locked up for a good part of my life and never trained me on how to control my magic. So if I get emotional or something, my magic hones in on whatever is passing through my mind and does something related to it." Carrie said quickly, panting in between sentences.

"Fine. Why did you turn my brother and my friend into two year olds?" Dean asked.

"Despite not having the healthiest relationship with her, I did have some good memories about my mom. My mind flashed back to good times I had with her as a kid, and it just kind of focused on that, I guess." She said, the wheezing slowing down as she slowly got up to her feet.

"Well you remembered the good times you had with your mom, congrats. Now change them back." Dean said sarcastically before giving his order.

Carrie huffed and glared at him in exasperation and desperation. "Didn't you hear me? I don't have any control over my power. I don't know how to. I can't control it, even if I wanted to!" She shouted, stepping towards him.

Swinging his gun up to be level with her chest, Dean stopped Carrie's advance. "Why should I believe you?" He asked, keeping his gun trained on her.

"Because she's telling the truth, Dean." Castiel voiced from behind him, toddling across the floor in the long trench coat, its back trailing behind him. Going to Dean's side, he looked up at the short girl through narrowed and appraising eyes.

"Great!" Dean exclaimed angrily. He threw his hands up in the air, making Carrie flinch as she watched the weapon in his hand.

"Dean?"

Both Carrie and Dean looked to Sam when he spoke, concern breaking out on Dean's face when he studied his younger brother and a look of adoration followed by cooing when Carrie saw him.

"Aww! Hey there, sweetie!" She cooed, moving forward.

She was stopped however when Dean grabbed her, not willing to let her get any closer to a vulnerable Sam. "You touch a single hair on his head and I swear to God I will put a bullet through your skull, got it?" He ground it.

Immediately terror alit Carrie's dark looking eyes while her face paled, but she was instantly saved by Sam who ran over to them as best as he could, grabbing at Dean's jeans while he looked up at them. "No, Dean! She didn't mean it! Let her go!" He begged, jumping up and down as he pulled at Dean's pants.

"Sammy, get back." Dean ordered. "Look at what she did to you!"

"I know and I remember! But please! She could help!" Sam's voice got higher with each word.

"I could, I will help! I know someone who can fix this!" Carrie looked between Sam and Dean wildly as she spoke.

This made Dean laugh mercilessly. "Damn straight, you're going to help. You got us into this mess; you'll get us out of this. Got it?"

Carrie nodded quickly. "Got it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"So how do you plan on getting my brother back to his giant self?" Dean asked, keeping his gun trained on Carrie as she walked ahead of him while they walked up the rickety stairs to the main floor. Behind him, draped in their now oversized shirts, Sam and Castiel climbed up after them.

Reaching the landing, Carrie waited out of the way while rolling her eyes. "I told you. I don't know how to, but I know someone who could and would be more than willing to help." She told him.

"Fine then." Dean retorted as he joined her on the top of the steps, standing close in front of her. "Who's going to help us out of the goodness of their heart?" He asked patronisingly, looking down at her. Now that they were in the light, he could clearly see the young woman before him. Dirt and dust was smeared all over skin, but despite this, he could tell that she was in fact quite attractive. Her golden blonde hair was knotted, but was still wavy, and framed her pale face. Meanwhile her electric blue eyes pierced his green ones in slight annoyance as her full lips formed a pout.

"My Grandmother." Carrie said, crossing her arms. Something shifted in her eyes, that made her look away and down to the ground rather troubled. "She's been cleaning up after my messes my entire life," She shrugged. "Never complained about it either. Gran knows what I've gone through, so she'll be more than willing to help."

There was a slight pang of sympathy within in his chest momentarily before it evaporated completely. "Well, my heart bleeds for you." He said sarcastically.

"Look, I know you don't trust me-" Carrie began.

"You're a witch; of course I don't trust you." Dean cut her off.

"And I don't expect you to." She shot back immediately. "But I'm human too, so please trust that I have a shred of human decency. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but I screwed up, and I want help fix it."

"She is telling the truth, Dean." A voice sounded from beside them. Both looked down to see Cas staring up at Carrie through narrowed, penetrating eyes. "You can trust Caroline."

"Awwww!" Carrie squealed when she looked at him, crouching down to his level with a smile on her face. "You're too cute!"

"Don't talk to him like that." Dean ground out, annoyed at her behaviour towards his friend.

"Why not?" She whipped her head to look at him with a scowl.

"Because he's a really old Angel!" He exclaimed before looking down at Cas as well. "Except you've turned him into a baby in a trench coat!"

"Well I didn't mean to!" She shouted, jumping up. Even standing up straight she came just under Dean's chin, not adding any intimidation to her cause by height.

"But it happened anyways! Like we need it right now!" Dean shouted back.

"Look, I said I'm sorry! Why don't you understand that!?" Carrie's pretty eyes started to water as tears welled up.

"Carrie, nooo!" Sam cooed loudly as he ran to her hugging her legs, watching the palms of her hands.

"Sammy, no!" Dean reached forwards and snatched him up into his arms when he too noticed the young witch's palms glowing an aqua color.

"No!" Carrie shrieked before flinging her hands to her left and away from them just in time for water to spout out of them and soak the ratty sofa in the dingy sitting room.

"Okay, you're going to have to learn how to control that since you're coming with us." Dean shouted, holding Sam close with one arm and shoving the other across Carrie's shoulder and driving her back to pin her against the wall behind her.

"You don't think I've been trying to all my life?" She shouted back, leaning forward slightly only to be shoved harder against the wall once more.

"Watch it!" He growled dangerously close to her face.

Leaning her face forward, Carrie did her best to hide her trembling. "I will if you will." She told him childishly.

For a tense moment they stood there, almost nose to nose as they glared at each other before Dean threw himself away from her. "Just make the damn call." He told her, backing away.

Studying him for a moment, Carrie tilted her head to the side. "You never told me your name." She said softly.

"Why does it matter?" He spat.

"If we're going to be working together, I should at least know your name. Besides, you know mine." She shrugged.

Sighing, Dean rolled his head. "Dean Winchester. That's my brother Sam, and that's Castiel."

"Winchester, huh? I've heard of you guys. I'm Caroline Lyle, but I prefer Carrie." She held out a hand to him along with a small smile. When he just eyed it angrily, she looked at him with a hint of sadness. "Look, if we're going to be working together, you need to start trusting me somewhere; this would at least be a start." She told him gently.

Glancing between her hand and face, Dean sighed and grabbed her hand in a short but firm handshake. "Yeah." He admitted begrudgingly.

However, when he tried to pull away, Carrie kept her hold on his hand. Moving his gaze up in a panic, he relaxed a fraction when he saw her giving him a small kind smile. "See? You can trust me."

Swallowing several times, it took Dean a moment to find his voice as he became almost entrapped by the stunning blue of her soft eyes. "Maybe." The single word came out hard as he disentangled their hands. "Make the call."

Studying him for a moment, Carrie swept some stray blonde hairs behind her ear and looked down. "Got it." She said quietly and moved out of the hall.

Watching her go, Dean was suddenly distracted by the light tapping of a small hand on his face. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out." Sam promised quietly. "We can trust her."

Looking over his brother's childish face, Dean smiled as he shifted him in his arms. His grown brother was still in that tiny body somewhere. "She'll have to prove it to me first before I do." His smile disappeared when he said this.

Instantly Sam grimaced, his brow furrowing as he glared at Dean. "Aww cummon! She's willing to help us! You don't have to be so mean."

"Look what she did to you, Sam!" Dean argued.

"I know, but I'm still in here." Sam's face was sad as he said this, trying to convince Dean to see his way. "I'm still me."

The two regarded each other for a moment before Dean pulled Sam into a close hug. "I know..." Dean mumbled, resting his cheek on the top of Sam's head. "It's just... remember the last time we had to deal with Witches? I don't feel like going on another freakin hex bag hunting spree."

"But she said she doesn't know anything about magic." Sam whispered, his brow furrowing.

"And what? You're going or take her word for it?" Dean hissed back.

"Yes!"

"Caroline was not lying Dean." Cas piped up from the floor. "Her intentions are pure. She truly does wish to help us."

Looking down at the Angel, Dean thought long and hard before placing Sam next to Cas and taking their hands. "Fine." He allowed, kneeling to their level. "But the moment you find out that changes, you tell me and she's done for." Then he gathered both boys into a hug. "I can't let anything happen to you guys, not now."

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_**A/N: Leave me with you're thoughts and if you want, check out my other Supernatural fics: **_**The Essence of My Soul to Keep_, and _Universal_. Thanks guys!_**


	4. An important note at this time

I don't normally like it when authors post what we believe is a new chapter but it just a note from the author, but in this time of crisis within the Supernatural family fandom, I believe this is called for. From anyone who doesn't know what's going on, from my understanding someone or some people are going online and targeting members of the Supernatural fandom who have expressed personal sorrows such as depression and suicidal thoughts, driving them to personally harm themselves to the point of hospitalization. I don't know all the facts, but this is the main points of what I've heard. And true to our title as the Supernatural family, fans and actors from the show alike have been crying out in protest and reaching out to each other.

So here, I reach out to my readers.

Some of you may roll your eyes, some of you may not, but hear this. I might just be another fanfiction author, but if you need to talk to someone about _**anything**_, I will listen and talk to you. Just know that you are loved, that you are important, and most importantly, that you are _**not**_ alone. I know what it feels like; to feel lost and alone; as though you've been shoved to the darkest corner of your mind, kicking and screaming where no one can hear you. And obviously, bad things will never stop coming, no matter what scale, but that's life, and we'll always find something to keep living for. I know what it feels like, so please, if you feel the need to put it out in the air, _**I will listen**_, and I know many others will too.

We are the Supernatural family for a reason, because if this crazy little show taught us anything at all, it's that _**family don't end in blood**_.

Love:

Bad Wolf and Timelords

(And so you know, when I am ready to post the new chapter, I will remove this note so as not to disrupt the flow of the story. Although even after that, my offer still stands.)


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